Speaker’s race, UT-Austin fight collide at GOP convention

FORT WORTH — Hardline critics of Texas House Speaker Joe Straus have, yet again, ramped up their campaign against him, circulating a flier at the state Republican convention that accuses him of “corruption” and “working with liberal university bureaucrats to silence” controversial University of Texas Regent Wallace Hall. (See the entire flier at the bottom of the post).

The flier was paid for by Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, which is better known as Empower Texans, and is run by one of Straus’ most vocal critics, Michael Quinn Sullivan. It was obtained by a Houston Chronicle/San Antonio Express-News reporter, who found the flyers on all the chairs in the convention arena.

Straus ordered the House Select Committee on Transparency in State Agency Operations in 2013 to investigate Hall’s actions as a UT regent. Last month, the committee overwhelmingly voted that grounds existed to impeach Hall, however they have not voted on the particular articles of impeachment.

A report commissioned by the committee’s special counsel, Houston attorney Rusty Hardin, alleged that Hall may have violated state and federal law in his bid to oust UT-Austin President Bill Powers, and found multiple grounds for his removal from office.

The flier obviously makes no mention of Hardin’s report. Instead, it portrays Hall as a whistle blower, battling corruption at the state’s most prestigious public university.

“Joe Straus is working with liberal university bureaucrats to silence a whistle-blower who has uncovered a multimillion dollar payola scheme, fiscal mismanagement, and legislators abusing their powers to gain admission for under-qualified children of donors, friends and family members,” it claims.

“Straus’ hand-picked ‘Transparency’ committee is trying to impeach the whistle-blowing university regent who uncovered their schemes — despite their chairman’s admission that there were no grounds for impeachment!”, it adds.

A report commissioned by the University of Texas Regents (warning .pdf), which Hall serves on, into allegations that lawmakers were inappropriately influencing the admissions process found no evidence of wrongdoing, but did find that students with a recommendation from a lawmaker were admitted at a higher rate.

“The inquiry did not uncover any evidence of a systematic, structured, or centralized process of reviewing and admitting applicants recommended by influential individuals. Nor did this limited inquiry reveal any evidence of a quid pro quo for admissions decisions, or other wrongdoing. Nonetheless, the data and information reviewed demonstrate that there is sufficient reason for concern such that certain current admissions practices should be reviewed and revised.”

The claims about the chairman appear to be referencing a letter written by committee co-chairman Rep. Dan Flynn, R-Canton, to other members of the committee, in which he said that he did not believe the grounds to impeach Hall existed. The letter was leaked to the press.

However, it does not point out that Flynn and co-chairwoman Rep. Carol Alvarado, D-Houston, both voted to support Hall’s impeachment.

This is the latest episode where the fight over who controls UT-Austin, which has captivated the Capitol for almost half a decade, has openly spilled over into the political world.

For instance, Hall is close to Jeff Sandefer, a major donor to Texas Gov. Rick Perry, supporter of Empower Texas’ Sullivan, and major critic of Powers who, observers believe, has tremendous influence over Perry’s higher education policies. He served on the board of Empower Texas 501(c)3 non-profit, as recently as 2012, records show show.

Empower Texas also maintains a 501(c)4 non-profit, which allows it make and receive political donations with little oversight, as well as a political action committee, whose activities are reported to the Texas Ethics Commission, the state’s campaign finance watchdog.

Both Hall and Sandefer — and Tim Dunn, the Midland oil-magnate who almost single-handedly funds Empower Texans PAC, records show — have given heavily to Rep. Scott Turner, R-Frisco, who is challenging Straus for the speakership.

Of the $305,000 Turner has raised so far in donations and in-kind contributions, more than a third of it has come from those three men.